NEW YORK, New York - The brakes came off Wall Street on Monday, as hopes that coronavirus is being defeated pushed all the major U.S. indices ahead by more than 7%.

"Seeing the market soar the way it is, even though the fundamentals continue to be in free fall, the market is looking across the valley and saying 'six months from now things will be on the ascent,'" Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research in New York told Reuters Monday.

"They are looking across the valley and seeing a lot of scary news but are basically saying 'We will get past this.'"

At the close of trading Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead 1,627.46 points, or 7.73%, at 22,679.99.

The Standard and Poor's 500 advanced 175.03 points, or 7.03%, to 2,663.68.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 540.16 points, or 7.33%, to 7,913.24.

The U.S. dollar drifter a fraction lower but was largely unchanged, except against the British pound which tumbled on news that Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been admitted to the intensive care of a hospital in London after his condition worsened overnight.

In late trading in New York Monday the pound had fallen to 1.2232. The euro was slightly stronger at 1.0792. The Japanese yen slipped to 109.22. The Swiss franc was particularly weak at 0.9787.

The Canadian dollar rose a few basis point. The Australian dolladed a quarter-cent to 0.6086. The New Zealand dollar firmed a touch to 0.5930.

On overseas equity markets, the FTSE 100 in London rallied 3.08%. The German Dav led European markets with a solid 5.77% rise. In Paris, the CAC 40 added 4.61%.

On Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was sharply higher. The key index rose 756.11 points or 4.24% to 18,576.30.

The Australian All Ordinaries jumped 216.70 points or 4.24% to 5,323.60.